MINNEAPOLIS _ Charlie Coyle suffered a broken leg in Thursday night's Wild victory in Chicago, and had surgery Friday.
The Wild announced Coyle had a right fibula fracture and had surgery performed by Dr. Fernando Pena at TRIA Orthopaedic Center in Bloomington. He is expected to miss six to eight weeks and has been placed on long-term injured reserve.
Coyle had played in a franchise record 316 consecutive games.
By placing Coyle on LTIR, the Wild can recall at least three players from Iowa for Saturday's home opener against Columbus.
Nino Niederreiter has a high left ankle sprain and went on injured reserve. The left winger will be out at least three weeks.
Winger Marcus Foligno will also miss Saturday's game because of a left facial fracture incurred in a fight in Chicago. He will have minor surgery and is expected to be out at least a week, the team said.
The Wild is also without injured winger Mikael Granlund (groin) and winger Zach Parise (complications from a back injury). Parise hinted Friday he might be ready to play on Saturday.
Luke Kunin will make his NHL debut on Saturday after being recalled from Iowa of the American Hockey League. Defenseman Mike Reilly was sent to Des Moines.
Kunin was the team's top draft pick (15th overall) in 2016. He was captain of the gold medal-winning U.S. team in the world junior championships last winter, and played two seasons at Wisconsin before signing with the Wild after last season.
Reilly was sent down to clear salary cap space because he did not have to be put through waivers. He has played in the Wild's three games and has two assists. Gustav Olofsson, the Wild's seventh defenseman, would have to clear waivers to be sent to Iowa.
Parise, who is not officially cleared to play yet, joked around that after Thursday's injury hit, he might have to speed up his comeback in time for Saturday.
"I don't know yet," he said in response to for sure not playing in the home opener. "I know things changed after last night."
Parise added he hoped he would be ready for next week's games, Oct. 20 and 21 at Winnipeg and Calgary.
"I've never wanted to put a timetable on anything," Parise said. "But you know, when they say I can play, I'll be playing. I just kind of go by that."
Parise continued to drop some hints and cast some doubts about a speedy recovery in time for the home opening activities with this:
"If it doesn't happen, it'll be pretty disappointing," Parise said. "The opening night is always a lot of fun. There's a lot of excitement in the building, and it's a really fun game to play in. So I'm hoping I'll be there. If not, I'll be watching. But it'll be disappointing if it doesn't happen."
